Shin Bet: Arab-Israeli Woman Posing as Aid Worker Funneled Money to Hamas Terror Group

TEL AVIV – An Arab-Israeli woman posing as a humanitarian worker was arrested for siphoning off aid money to the Hamas terror group, the Shin Bet security agency said Sunday.

Aya Khatib, 31, funneled money and provided intelligence for the Gaza-based terror group’s military arm, the security agency said.

She was apprehended last month for rerouting hundreds of thousands of shekels earmarked for needy families in Gaza, “defrauding both aid NGOs and innocent civilians who donated monies with the goal of reaching sick people and the needy,” the agency said in a statement.

Some of the money went towards terror activity, including the construction of subterranean tunnels stretching into Israeli territory.

In addition to raising funds, Khatib is also suspected of gathering security intelligence to promote terrorist activity against Israeli targets.

“The investigation findings found that Khatib also provided intelligence to Hamas, including details on the movements of IDF forces during one of the rounds of conflict with the Gaza Strip,” the Shin Bet said.

A prosecutor’s statement was filed in Acre Magistrate’s Court on Sunday and an indictment is expected to be filed at Haifa District Court in the coming days. Khatib is being charged with aiding an enemy during wartime, having contact with a foreign agent, and financial transgressions relating to terror activities.

Khatib’s husband, Ali Aqel, who was arrested with her, was released the same day after a brief investigation.Dozens of Arab Israelis have protested her arrest outside the Haifa Magistrate’s Court a number of times in recent weeks.

MK Yousef Jabareen, of the Arab-majority Join List party, attended one such demonstration.MK Iman Khatib-Yassin, also from the Joint List, also defended Khatib, saying she is “a wife and mother of small children…all she did was be with needy and poor people, in order to give them a little respect. So if they call that terrorism, then good health to them.”

Khatib was recruited to Hamas by Mohammad Peppel and Muhammad Halawah, two operatives from its armed wing, the Izz a-Din al-Qassam brigades.

“Hamas in the Gaza Strip is cynically exploiting humanitarian aid to promote inter-regional terrorist activities,” the Shin Bet said. It noted that a month before Khatib’s arrest, two more Arab-Israelis were indicted for being Hamas operatives.